Saltire medal 2012 winner Richard Yemm was singled out for recognition of his contribution towards the commercial development of wave or tidal energy.
But no sooner has it been awarded to him, he’s keen to point out that there is an entire team working on Pelamis Wave Power’s wave energy device, the “sea snake”.
He fleetingly mentions a former career in the RAF, the institution which sponsored him through university before he “rediscovered” engineering.
He jokes about a final-year project testing yacht hulls in wave energy doyen Dr Stephen Salter’s test tank at Edinburgh University – “like a child playing with large boats in a bath for people on the PhD”.
But perhaps most surprising, for a person at the forefront of renewable energy development, it was the realities of life that brought him into the industry – as well as working alongside Dr Salter.
A need for a job to help him through to the end of his PhD saw him take on engineering work for companies in the renewables space.
The move to wave power then came when in 1994 the Scottish government set its first renewables goal with the Scottish Renewables Order 01, which set an enhanc-ed tariff for wave power.
Now what drives Yemm is the belief that it is the understanding of the reality of how waves behave, pitch, roll and break, that will unlock the wave energy prize.
“You need a deep understanding of how waves work before you can think about how to take power out of them.
“That is really where Pelamis came from, by looking at how waves work and how a machine needs to interact to make a good job of absorbing power from waves when they are small and being even better at surviving when they are big.”
The trick facing those wanting to make electricity from wave motion is to be able to make the most out of average wave patterns while being able to withstand storms, he says.
But also to understand where the energy can come from, he says. For Pelamis, it is in the curvature of the wave – not its rising and falling or forward and backwards motion – and an understanding of how waves break and what then happens to the water.
Average waves are about 1.9m (6.5ft) high, Yemm explains. But in a storm they can reach 11.8-15.2m (39-50ft) and individual waves can hit 30m (98ft).
“It is a huge conceptual issue to solve,” said Yemm. “The machines have to survive without having to throw a lot of steel at the problem.
“At the heart of Pelamis, what drives the machine, is the curvature of the wave. It is the same in short steep waves as in the middle of winter.
“There are the same loads and motions and that is really fundamental.”
He said because the machine is reacting against the curvature of the wave, and not against itself, all the forces are also internal and so the device is not reliant on a strong anchoring system.
This in turn means the mooring system can be simple, lightweight and easy to install.
It also means the machine can be removed quickly, towed away and worked on onshore – where costs are about a tenth of those of working offshore, said Yemm.
Another way the firm has hoped to address efficiency and costs is by using established energy offtake systems using familiar industrial components.
Pelamis Wave Power, founded in 1998 by Yemm – now chief technology officer – has spent the last 14 years working out how to do all of that.
In 2008 it saw its first, a world first, wave farm operate at Aguçadoura, off Portugal. It now has three utility firms – Vattenfall, ScottishPower Renewables and E.on – who each have Pelamis P2 devices all in the process of being tested in the waters around Orkney at the European Marine Energy Centre.
With Vattenfall, the firm is working on a 10megawatt (MW) project, called Aegir, off Shetland. With the Hebridean Marine Energy Futures Project, it is also working on another 10MW project off Bernera, in the Outer Hebrides. It is also working on a 15MW project off the coast of Sutherland.
However, the firm now needs an investor, ideally in the form of an experienced partner, to get it to the next level – developing its first array. Peer wave energy firm Aquamarine Power, also based in Edinburgh, has fewer utilities behind it but recently got an injection of cash from ABB.
Tidal energy developer Marine Current Turbines has been bought out by Siemens.
Is the firm up for sale? “Everything is always up for sale,” he answers. In November last year the firm’s new chief executive Per Hornung Pedersen said he was confident of signing up a new strategic partner to take the firm “to the next level” in less than a year.
“What we do not have is industrial capacity to make 30 machines,” said Yemm.
“For us to go out and try to learn how to do that would be hugely inefficient. We need to attract the right partner that is credible with the big utilities to bring in the right skills to allow the early commercial arrays.”
A partner would be joining a firm that has so far spent about £70million developing its sea snake – about £40million from investors, £10million from grants and £19million from revenues.
“We have been efficient with our money,” he says. “Some have spent more delivering a single demonstrator.
“But we do need sustained investment. We need a big push behind us, both from a partner but also from the utilities and from government.”
The last 14 years have certainly not been without their setbacks – but Yemm, something of a realist, sees it all as learning.
“It has been a series of big successes and setbacks – that is the nature of what we are doing,” he said. “A huge milestone was being the first to generate electricity from offshore to the grid in 2004.
“Our project in Portugal was probably technologically too far too fast. But if we had not done it we probably would not be where we are now.
“That project taught us what commercial machines need to do. E.on placing an order was a major step.
“The next big milestone, aside from getting three machines operating at EMEC, is getting the first array away. In five years time success will be a couple, possibly three, 10MW arrays operating.”
And what does the industry collectively need to do?
The next five to 10 years will be proving and improving early commercial arrays, he says. From 2020 it will be a delivery phase, he adds.
“The industry’s focus has to be get to 2020 with proven technology with which the cost of energy is acceptable and then scale up.
“That is what we need. The Scottish government is doing its bit. Utilities and industry need to play their part.”
Questions and answers
Age: 43
Education (university or main education otherwise): Mechanical Engineering 1st Class BSc Honours and PhD
The 2/3 main roles in career and dates: Self-employed mechanical engineer from completing PhD in 1993 to setting up PWP in 1998.
What has been the hardest decision you have made in business? Taking the plunge and committing everything to Pelamis in 1998 in the knowledge that it was going to be a long hard road to success and looking back I am very pleased I did.
Who do you admire in business? or Who has inspired you most in your career? My colleagues at PWP for their creativity and dogged determination.
What do you regard as your greatest success to date? Playing a significant part in putting wave energy on the map.
What do you do to relax? Family and golf
Where is your favourite holiday destination? Scottish Highland and Islands
What is your favourite gadget? My iPhone!
